I Created a Magic System for My Game

The Magic Sytem of Herald of the Mists

Jul 04, 2024

A couple of months ago, we talked about what makes a magic system great in video games. I told that good magic systems usually tick at least two of these:

It requires work: It’s not just about pressing a single button.
It’s useful in different situations: Magic has uses outside of combat.
It’s interactive: Spells interacts with your surroundings.
It’s experimental: It encourages experimenting and researching.
It has solid grounding: There are well-defined limitations to what you can do and what you can’t do with magic.
It’s aligned: The system is aligned with the theme and atmosphere of your game.

Well, it’s easier said than done. I’ve been busy polishing my magic system recently, and now that the game is announced, I can talk about its magic system in detail. Let’s go.

Disclaimer

Before we start, let me mention that I don’t mean systems that don’t check these factor are bad. Magic can serve many purposes depending on the game, and as long as it serves it well, it's not a bad system. Sometimes they are just there to justify some mechanics or a story piece. When I’m talking about “great” systems, I usually refer to the games where magic plays a major role.

How My Magic System Works

Now let’s talk about the magic system of my game. It’s a text-based RPG with turn-based combat, meaning the magic should be useful both in text and in combat. To begin with, there are four schools of magic:

School of Body: Focuses on spells that deal damage.
School of Mind: Focuses on spells that affect other people's mind.
School of Spirit: Focuses on spells that heal you and give you bonuses.
School of Matter: Focuses on spells that summon food, lockpicks, arrows, and other objects.

Each school has its own list of spells, history, and notable figures. Wizards usually focus on one or two schools only, since mastering even a single school takes years of work and meditation.

Spells in each school are categorized in Circles from 1 to 4. The First Circle includes the easiest spells to cast, while the Fourth Circle includes the hardest ones.

How to Learn and Cast Spells

To cast a spell, you need to invest some skill points to your Will. The higher your Will, the stronger spells you will be able to cast. But that’s not enough. You also need to find a wizard who will train you in different Circles. If you want to cast spells in the First Circle, you need to get trained in that Circle.

Finding a wizard is not difficult in The Mists, where the game takes place. Convincing them to train you, however, is a different story. Some will charge absurd amounts of money, while others will force you to do their dirty work.

The final thing you need is a spellbook (and mana). Each spell costs you certain amount of mana, which replenishes after every rest. Your mana is determined by your Will. (There are also spells that cost you health).

So you need four things to cast a spell:

High enough Will
Training in Circles
A spellbook
Mana

Limitations

To get access to a spell, you need to find a spellbook that includes it. Most of the spellbooks include a single spell. The ones that include more than one are extremely rare and difficult to get.

Each spellbook takes up a single inventory slot. Considering that you have only 9 inventory slots, the number of spellbooks you can carry is highly limited. If you carry 9 spellbooks, that means you won’t have any space left for other items like armor, rings, potions, etc.

So the number of spellbooks and the spell you decide to carry, combined with other items, define what kind of wizard you are. Will you fill up your inventory with spellbooks only to get access to a high number of spells? Or will you carry only 2 spells and other items, such as swords and shields, to become a spellsword?

In combat, you have three Action Points (AP) in each turn. Different spells require different amount of AP. Some spells, however, can be scaled by casting them with higher APs than they require. Some spells can affect more than one target.

Consequences

Using magic comes with certain disadvantages. First of all, it drains you physically. Every time you cast a spell, there’s a small chance that you will hurt yourself and receive some damage. The stronger the spell you cast, the higher the damage.

The second consequence is that people who cast spells frequently dissapear. Nobody knows what happens to them or where they go. They just disappear without leaving any trace. Different scholars have different theories on it, but nobody knows it for certain. Since nobody returns after disappearing, people assume they die.

Spells

The game has 20 spells, five spells for each circle (this can go higher or lower in the future). Some spells work only in dialogue, some only in combat, and some in both. The spell of Unlock can be used to unlock doors during exploration, while the spell of Ray can be used to deal damage during combat. The spell of Fear can be used to intimidate NPCs during dialogue or to weaken enemies during combat.

I won’t list all the spells here since they can change over time. But here is one spell from each school:

School of Body - Light: I'm trying to make sure that spells can be used outside of their intended purposes. The Light spell, for example, can be used not only to illuminate the environment, but also to distract people or blind them for a brief moment.
School of Spirit - Sigil of Attribute: It increases one of your three attributes (Strength, Dexterity, Will) for a few turns. This gives you an advantage in dice rolls.
School of Matter - Unlock: It allows you to create a key in the shape of the lock you are trying to open.
School of Mind - Detect Thoughts: It allows you to read the other person's thoughts.

History

We’ve talked about the mechanics; now let’s talk about the story behind it. I really enjoy it when the magic system is surrounded by mystery, and as players, we get to unravel it. That's why I left many things for the player to discover on their own in the game. Here’s what common people know about magic:

The study of magic began 40 years after people migrated to Breang when a scholar named Liora gained her powers through meditation. With her 4 students, she started working on magic full-time in her family’s castle, which soon turned into a school of magic. During their studies, they discovered many new spells and transcribed them into books. As a result of intense focus and effort, they realized that everyone could benefit from this, but they couldn't clearly determine the source of the power.

Each of the four students focused on different applications of magic, laying the foundations for the four schools. One of the students, Beorhtric, focused on creating physical objects with magic. However, Liora advised against this because she realized that such spells could greatly harm the caster and could lead to the exploitation of wizards in the future. Beorhtric did not listen to his teacher. He continued to expand and develop the School of Matter until Liora expelled him from the school. The conflict between Liora and Beorhtric grew so intense that it split the entire school into two factions, leading to the school's eventual destruction. Liora and Beorhtric disappeared; the remaining students dispersed and continued their work on their own.

Magic continued to be practiced, although to a lesser extent than before. Common people were prejudiced, but they did not oppose it because Kayrakan, the god of Beang, expressed positive views on the matter. It was only when magic users began to mysteriously disappear that Kayrakan completely banned magical practices. While studies continued in secret, no progress was made because the disappearances could not be stopped.

Magic studies and practitioners still persist, especially in The Mists, where the influence of Kayrakan is quite limited. The mystery behind the source of magic and the disappearances remains unsolved.

Conclusion

Sooo, let’s see now how this system does in the checklist:

Does it require work? It does, player needs to find people who are trained in Circles and then convince them to teach.
Is it useful in different situations? Yes, spells can be used in combat and also in dialogue to solve different kinds of problems.
Is it interactive with surroundings? Nope.
Is it experimental? Nope. You use some spells to enhance other spells’ effects but it’s not very experimental.
Has solid grounding? Kinda. I still need to work on how these spells contribute to other matters in the world, but it does have certain limitations and rules.
Is it aligned? Yes. The system is aligned with the theme and atmosphere.

I wouldn’t claim it’s a good magic system. That would be the players' decision when they play it. What makes me like this system is the inventory limitation because it forces players to choose only a certain number of spells and items to carry, which can lead to different wizard builds.

Let me know what you think!

Me

Reading: Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett. It feels good to return to Discworld after a long time.

Playing: I finished Jusant a couple of weeks ago, which is a puzzle climbing game. The puzzle part was not there very much, but the climbing part was great fun. The visuals and the atmosphere were also charming. Then I played Persona 3: Reload. It started off quite enjoyable, but listening to the same music and watching the same animations over and over again made me quit. Which is a shame because I loved the combat so much. Maybe one day I'll go back. Now I'm playing Starfield. Let’s see if it’s as bad as everyone claims.

Listening:

Thanks for reading!

And that’s it from today’s issue of GameDev’s Journey. I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful. If you did, please like and leave a comment. Reach out for suggestions, objections, questions, or just say hi.

But regardless, thank you so much for reading, and have a great game dev journey!